


Six Vignettes of Cerberus

by yuletide_archivist



Category: Black Cat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-19
Updated: 2007-12-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 09:09:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1643225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuletide_archivist/pseuds/yuletide_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Story by yueni</p><p>Cerberus before and after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Six Vignettes of Cerberus

**Author's Note:**

> Written for misura

 

 

**1.**

Cerberus. Assassination squad within an assassination squad. The members were lethal and efficient, a mystery to all those outside the Chrono Numbers. Their targets died, no muss, no fuss. Whenever somebody was targetted, their only hope was for a quick clean kill and not something protracted and painful.

Whether a short-range, mid-range or long-range technique was needed, the three members of the squad could get it done. If they were known world-wide like the CIA was, there would be stories written about them, novels published on their exploits (fictitious or not), movies made. They would have been famous.

Instead, they were cramped in a little shed, waiting for a garden party to end. They were bored, hungry, and uncomfortable.

"Why are we here again?" grumbled Beluga, his large body cramped against a rack of hoes and rakes.

"To ki--"

"We have orders." Naizer cut Janus off.

"I could get us some food off that buffet, while we wait" Janus offered.

"With what? Your charm? If we're discovered--"

"Watch and learn."

Naizer and Beluga watched, and learned that sometimes, hiding in plain sight was the most effective disguise.

**2.**

Janus had always been the cool one, the charismatic one. He had also always been the most casual of them, his insouciance often getting them into trouble, though Naizer had to admit that it was that lazy, care-free attitude that had gotten them out of trouble as well, or in a lot of cases, prevented any hint of trouble to begin with. Sometimes, that devil-may-care laziness got on his nerves, though, like right now, when both he and Beluga were waiting on Janus to come back with information on their mark.

He was flirting with the receptionist at the hotel front desk, and didn't look to finish his "information gathering" any time in the near future.

"Is he actually getting any information, or is he getting a date?!"

Times like these, Naizer wished Janus was less of a ladies man and preferably ugly. With warts.

**3.**

When things got serious, there was nobody Janus trusted more than Naizer and Beluga at his back. It hadn't been something that had come together immediately. It had taken a while for the three of them to trust each other, but now that they were together, they were like a well-oiled machine.

Now it was Naizer, fouling up their opponents at close range while Beluga lined up a shot. Then it was him, wreaking havoc with Excelion, cutting through their weapons and their lies as they tried to eliminate Beluga. (As if he'd let them!) It was a dance of death and decay. No matter how dire the situation seemed, no matter how miniscule a chance they had to get the job done, the three of them had always seen it through to the end, and Janus placed his trust in that.

Without his partners, a completed job was nothing. With them, it was everything.

**4.**

Beluga often suspected that their weapons were an extension of their personalities. Verethragna, his bazooka, was direct and difficult to hide, just as he was. He hated deception and he settled things in his straight-forward manner. Much like a bull in a china shop, Janus had jokingly told him once, and that was really not far from the truth. Aim and shoot, that was what bazookas were for. The rubble of the aftermath was something he came to expect after having fired Verethragna. The finality of an end like that--Beluga had always preferred definite endings than ambiguous ones.

Dioskuroi, Naizer's tonfas were more easily concealed, but as straight forward a killing method as Beluga's. It was Naizer to a T, direct, up front, in-your-face. Implacable. Naizer had always been the team motivator, burning determination beneath a calm, collected exterior, willing to sacrifice everything he could to get the job done. The unwavering will exhibited in the wielder of those blades was perhaps more frightening than the sharpness of the blades themselves. He supposed that it was the reason why Naizer was the leader of Cerberus.

If both he and Naizer were up front about who they were, it was Janus who was the enigma. Even his weapon concealed its lethality in plain sight. When he had first met Janus, and seen his glove, he'd laughed. What the hell was that thing? A glove in the hands of an inveterate flirt?! The winner was obvious. Or so he had thought. Afterwards, Beluga understood that Janus' deceptively charming exterior hid the remarkably skilled wielder of Excelion, capable equally of slicing things with incredible delicacy as well as splitting a container truck in two. Those wires, though designed to cut, could also be wielded to restrain, and Janus' control over them was perhaps the best expression of his personality.

**5.**

The death of Beluga something that Janus would bear for the rest of his life. He'd never felt any remorse in his assassinations, but this particular death--the sacrifice of one life for two, one of which was his--that was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. Sometimes, he blamed himself for it. If only he'd let Beluga kill Creed, then perhaps--

But Naizer would have died then, and would he have been able to live with himself then? Belze's words still echoed in his mind. "If you hadn't done what you did, then the 'Scar of Killing His Comrade' would forever be engraved in Beluga's heart."

He had said then that he would continue to fight, his determination and that of Naizer's would push them forward into an unwavering future.

**6.**

Cerberus still lived on. Naizer made certain of it. In a way, Beluga's memory became something of a rallying cry for him. The sacrifice of one to ensure the survival of the group was something that Naizer could understand. He'd lost a partner before, and knew that the world moved on, despite the loss of one. Janus was still a part of Cerberus, still somebody he could depend on.

They would continue to use their skills for the better of the world. That was Naizer's will.

 

 

 


End file.
